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Researchers receive Heart Association grants

Four LSU Health Shreveport scientists have received grants of more than $500,000 from the Southeast Chapter of the American Heart Association for research on stroke, pulmonary hypertension and human cytomegalovirus.

? Stroke: Gouhong Li, PhD, associate professor of neurosurgery & physiology, received a $165,000 grant to investigate the theory that combining the clot-busting drug tPA with one that inhibits the action of a specific blood/brain enzyme could extend the time window to restore healing blood flow for stroke patients. The drug tPA is the only FDA approved and the most beneficial proven treatment of strokes caused by a blood clot in the brain. Clinical use of tPA is limited due to the need to begin the treatment within a three- to 4.5-hour window and due to increased risk of bleeding complications. In the two-year study, Li's lab hopes to prove that combining delayed-action tPa with a drug that inhibits the enzyme P13Kg will allow more time to safely use tPA to reopen the blocked vessels. This could reduce the damage to the brain and prevent deaths.

? Pulmonary hypertension: Tammy R. Dugas, PhD, associate professor of pharmacology, toxicology and neurosciences, received a two-year $165,000 award. With the award, her lab will try to understand the disease progression and why women are targeted for pulmonary hypertension. The answers to those questions could lead to development of new therapies for the treatment of this female-selective disease.

? Human cytomegalovirus: Human cytomegalovirus infection is the largest virus in people and has been linked with the development of cardiovascular disease. Jeremy Kamil, PhD, assistant professor of microbiology and immunology, and doctoral candidate Donna Collins both received AHA awards for separate projects involving HCMV and its relationship to heart disease.

Kamil's lab will receive $165,000 over the next two years to investigate how a cellular protein that normally helps prevent cancers is involved in viral infection. The hope is the research will lead to an understanding of how to control HCMV infection in patients. Kamil's findings could also have implications for treating cancer.

Collins, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology, has received a two-year $52,000 predoctoral fellowship award from the AHA to try to understand the ways in which the HCMV virus may promote development of cardiovascular diseases. In particular, her lab has looked at how the virus infects certain white blood cells and reprograms them as carriers. A better understanding of the infection process could lead to the development of new treatments or preventative therapies for a variety of HCMV-associated diseases.

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LSU Health news

Four LSU Health Shreveport scientists have received grants of more than $500,000 from the Southeast Chapter of the American Heart Association for research on stroke, pulmonary hypertension and human